Martin Wiley Littleton (January 12, 1872 – December 19, 1934) was an American attorney known for his involvement in a number of high-profile trials during the early 1900s, including serving as chief defense counsel for Harry Kendall Thaw at his second trial in 1908 for the murder of renowned architect Stanford White, and defending Harry Ford Sinclair, the head of Sinclair Oil, from criminal charges resulting from the Teapot Dome scandal.

On trips to nearby Kingston with his father, he visited the local courthouse and watched cases being argued, sparking his interest in the practice of law.

In hopes of saving money to attend school, he held a variety of jobs starting at age 11, including working as a printer's devil, cattle herder, railroad track walker, baker, and road worker.

[1][2] After his bar admission, he became assistant prosecuting attorney in Parker County,[1] and within a year had left that job and was privately defending murder cases before his twenty-first birthday.

His success in defending the prisoners brought him to the attention of the local Kings County district attorney's office, who eventually hired him.

While establishing his practice in Brooklyn, Littleton also became known for his skill at public speaking, which led to his participation in local Democratic Party campaigns in 1897 and 1898.

He returned to private practice, and gained national attention for his successful defense of Harry K. Thaw at his second murder trial in 1908[1] (see Notable cases).

The speech began: Well, well, good people, here we are again with our unparalleled aggregation of sibilant synonyms, antonomastic antonyms, contumelious caconyms and tuneful tropes.

After years of patient exploration in the jeopardous jungles of Webster, the arenaceous acres of Funk and Wagnalls, and the refreshing rosetum of Roget, I shall exhibit before you this afternoon the fruits of my toil.

A three-month-long deadlock followed, which was finally ended by New York State Senator Franklin D. Roosevelt forcing the legislature to accept a compromise candidate, James A.

He also argued that films in general should not be subject to federal censorship because they "mercilessly" analyzed public questions and social and religious controversies.

In 1928, Littleton successfully defended industrialist Harry Ford Sinclair on charges resulting from the Teapot Dome scandal.

[1] Time magazine hailed Littleton as "the man who last week extricated Harry Ford Sinclair from the oil scandal" and likened his legal maneuvers to Houdini.

[3] According to his contemporary obituary, Douglas Littleton died in 1919 at age 19 of pneumonia while serving as Undersecretary of the American Embassy in Paris just after World War I.

She also spearheaded a campaign during the 1910s to get Congress to purchase Monticello, the former home of Thomas Jefferson which was deteriorating under its then-owner, and make it a public monument.

In Plandome Manor, the family lived on a 12-acre estate including a 1700s historic house called the Nicoll Mansion, and a library built by Littleton's wife as a memorial to their late son, with architecture similar to buildings in Palestine and surrounded by a high concrete wall with painted scenes of Jerusalem.